Let Me Speak - Hannah's Mother

I cannot be with her in person, but today is a very special day for the Duke family. This is the day, seven years ago, that Hannah Duke decided to recover from anorexia. I’ll post her reasons for choosing this date next. Of course, I hope everyone knows that it is a long and painful journey to get to that point, and afterwords, recovery is not linear.
Even now, she needs to be careful to maintain her mental health regarding her eating disorder. It can be triggered (mentally), not in behavior, by so many things. She lives in NYC, ground zero for eating disorders. Most of her friends have disordered eating. Many of her friends take 3-4 exercise classes A DAY, EVERY DAY, wearing their Apple watches to check their calories burned each hour.
Anorexic fashion models people the streets. And everywhere, people talk about food ad nauseum. Not in terms of how delicious something is, but is it “healthy," is it “good” food ,etc. all euphemisms for diet culture whether they know it or not. That would not trigger you maybe, but it sets off alarms in the minds of someone with disordered eating. I usually write how happy we are about Hannah’s recovery, but today, I thought it might be better to talk about her recovery. Hannah volunteers for NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association), talking to people who have called the hotline. She has become a resource for many friends who have this mental illness.
If you know somebody who needs help or someone to talk to, please let me know me and I’ll give them Hannah’s number.